Grant Morrison on the End of His Action Comics Run

Grant Morrison was set to conclude his Action Comics run in issue #17 -- which you can see preview art of in the article below -- but found his story to be so expansive that it got expanded to an extra-sized issue #18.

To talk about the impending conclusion of his epic Superman tale, I sat down to chat with Morrison about Superman's 5th dimension battle, the status of the long-discussed Multiversity, the debut of a new super team, and, of course, Krypto the Superdog.

IGN Comics: The last time we talked was before Action Comics #1 even came out. Now that your run is about to conclude, is there anything in particular that you’ve accomplished with Superman that you’re proud of?

Grant Morrison: More than anything else, and this is what I’ve said to everyone, is that I think we’ve manned him up a little bit. [laughs] I think that’s the best thing that’s happened. He’s got a bit of an attitude again; he’s not so much the establishment man. He’s a bit more dangerous. He has more emotions. He gets angry; he’s got a sense of humor. And also the fact that Clark Kent isn’t just that kind of oaf from the Midwest; he’s kind of a crusader in his own right as well.

I think we’ve just toughened him up a little bit, and it’s what the character really needed because he’s become very much associated with the establishment and middle-age and patriarchy and at the same time he was constantly doubting himself and miserable. It wasn’t quite the Superman I think this modern world and young generation needs.

IGN: Given that you’ve written Superman in various places before Action Comics, was there anything that surprised you or challenged you in a different way in terms of doing the New 52 version?

Morrison: Just the fact that this was an ongoing series made it very different. With something like All-Star Superman, that’s a complete book and a kind of statement for the ages with a beginning, middle, and end. Though this 18-issue run does have a beginning, middle, and end, this Superman is lasting and enduring; it’s a monthly comic and it’s going to keep coming out. So that gave it a really different dynamic. You can put plot points in that you never necessarily have to deal with, because you know some other writer will come along and use that space to create a new story.

That was interesting about it. It was more like cross-country skiing or something. [laughs] Very different from what I’ve done before. Like, Superman Beyond from Final Crisis is a really tight, two-part complete story. This one, you want it to last, you want to see the next issue. You want to see Andy Diggle’s version. You want to see the person after that. So it’s a totally different style to write, I think.

IGN: What can you tell us about your run’s conclusion? Should we prepare for any big reveals?

Morrison: Not so much reveals as much as a sort of assault on Superman on a lot of different levels. We see him being literally assaulted -- there’s a giant monster in there as well -- but at the same time he’s being assaulted symbolically and conceptually. I don’t want to say too much as to what happens in [the book], but reveals will be the last thing you care about. Obviously, there are a lot of big moments, but I think that’s the least of it. I tried to do something of a psychedelic experience with Superman.

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I tried to do something of a psychedelic experience with Superman.

IGN: Awesome. A favorite moment from your run was Action Comics #9 and President Superman of Earth 23. Any chance we’ll be seeing those characters again before your run is over?

Morrison: We don’t see that particular character, but we do see the machine that was in it. That piece of technology, the box, comes up again in Multiversity. And then the Super-Doom character – which we don’t even have a name for, but that’s what I call him – he comes back into it, obviously. So the Superman of Earth 23 doesn’t appear until Multiversity, but he’s the main character in that. So yeah, his story goes on, so a little bit of the Multiverse story you saw [in #9] will continue.

IGN: Oh man, I can’t wait! But back to Clark – can you talk a little bit about ultimately led to your departure from Action Comics?

Morrison: I just got to the end of my story, and that was it, you know? I signed up to do six issues initially, and it was just going to be the story of how Superman went from this young, proto-superhuman to wearing the Jim Lee-style space suit. And that was it, that’s what I signed on for. But then, a couple of extra fill-in issues were required for the story that I came up with and ended with a much larger story beyond, so I decided to tell that story which was the 5th dimension story. And that was going to end in issue #16 or so and I thought, “I’ve got to give this more space, this is getting bigger than it should be.”

So I walked and talked my way into doing 18 issues of something when I initially wanted to do six. So at that point, I just had enough and had told my story of Superman! [laughs] I didn’t have anything more to say. There was nothing weird about it, I was just finished.

IGN: You mentioned this just now, but originally your story was set to conclude in the solicited Action #17 but got expanded an issue. Did you just need more space or did you find more story that you wanted to tell?

Morrison: It was a bit of both. I thought that because there’s this big doomsday battle between Superman and this monster from another dimension – and the monster is big, I wanted him to be a proper monster, like 50 feet tall and stuff like that that – I thought, “There’s no way I can do this and just squeeze it in like I usually do at the end of the book.” [laughs]

I wanted to let some air into it; I thought Superman needed that kind of space and physicality, so that’s what it was all about. My editors were kind enough to let me do it. And even that way, the last issue should’ve been 20 pages but it went to 30. So I just wanted to let the gigantism of this story breath out and it finally found its form and settled down.

IGN: You mentioned Multiversity earlier; can you update us on the status of that project?

Morrison: Yeah, Frank Quitely’s got ten pages to do. He’s been steadily working on his issue for quite a while, but it’s magnificent looking. The rest of the scripts are being finished and handed out to artists; I think Cameron Stewart is on the Shazam stuff next. But yeah, it’s just proceeding now and as far as I know it will be coming out sometime at the end of the year. But it hasn’t been scheduled yet, so I’m not exactly sure when.

IGN: Awesome, pretty excited to hear that. That’s all I’ve got, is there something you wanted to add?

Morrison: God, there was something that I totally forgot now… [laughs] Oh yeah! You asked about reveals and stuff, but what there actually is is a big, new DC super team appearing. I forgot to tell this in any other interviews, so you’ve got the scoop! But you can look forward to the debut of a new DC Comics super team in Action Comics #18, and it ties into one of the characters that’s been in there before. So yeah, just stuff like that. There’s a lot of Easter eggs and surprises.

IGN: That’s awesome. And you know what, I also just want to thank you for the love and attention you’ve given to Krypto over the course of your run.

Morrison: Well, I love animals and I think he had to come back! [laughs]

IGN: He’s honestly my favorite supporting Superman character and it was great to see him given the spotlight like that.